This page details the progression from my very simple beginnings in a two car garage in Scottsdale, AZ., through ten years in a two car garage in Northern Virginia, to the new home of Fivebraids, Inc, a newly built, stand-alone shop on almost ten acres in Metter, GA. 

I'm sorry if this page takes a long time to load as it gets larger and larger from my adding pictures to chronicle my progress.  I'll probably archive this to a separate page and only have images and details of the actual shop once it's completed and operational.

(Click on any of the thumbnails for full sized images that will open in a new browser window.)
 

Design Phase

Here's the preliminary design for the new shop from a few different angles.  I'll update these images as I make design decisions.  I'll also include images of the construction details once I get them finalized.

The first two images show basic front and rear elevations of the structure.  Since the rear of the building will be facing south, I didn't want too many windows (to have to shade in the summer).  The tool layout in the cutaway shot isn't even close to accurate.  I have more/different tools than those shown, but haven't created models for all of them yet.  I also need to wait until I can get into the actual space to determine workflows which will help determine the layout.

Several months go by where we're working hard to get the land cleared and prepared....

Here we are at the end of May 2006.  I've spent quite a bit of time designing the shop and getting all the various details sorted out.  The design has gone through several iterations of changes, as you'll see in the following diagrams.  I've determined that the best way for me to have the wood floors I've always wanted in a shop is to build the structure using a pier and beam system.  (The piers are those yellow things in the diagram below.)  I've also decided to add a porch to the front of the shop.  Oh yeah, and I debated long and hard but finally decided to add more and larger windows both front and back.  I can cover any or all of them if/when I need to, but it would be tough to add more later.

Additional details I've worked through include the truss system I'm using for the roof.  Instead of the shallow pitch in the original design, I've increased it to a 5:12 so that I could add storage space up in the 'attic'.  I've also completed all but a few details in the actual framing of the structure.  I'm still a little uncertain about the details regarding the wash room and pantry area.  I have time though, so I'm going with what I have for now.  Once I get the structure erected and under cover, I can finalize those details.

I'll try to get this updated once I make final decisions and have updated diagrams.

Construction Phase

Here's where it all began on Dec 23, 2005

Having decided approximately where the shop would go on the property, I contracted a crew to come in and clear the area.  The plan is for the shop to be flanked by fruit trees, as well as a vegetable garden, so more land needed to be cleared than just the shop area.  There were also several old piles left over from the original house construction that needed to go. The shop will be located to the right of where the tractor sits, in the midst of the trees in the first picture. The second picture shows a tall pine a little too close to the pool, so while the equipment was here, it had to go.  And finally, the third picture shows the land cleared, and two large piles containing about 75 trees and a few tons of debris and brush.

(Click here to open a new browser window with some details on additional work we had the crew do while the heavy equipment was on site. Simply close the new window to return here when you're done.)

Once the trees, debris, and brush were set into two huge piles, it was time to get rid of it all.  The first picture shows the smaller of the two piles.  We had originally planned to burn it all, but that wasn't going to work.  There were simply too many large trees and partially decayed debris. After smoldering for a few days thanks to a large fan we placed near the flames, and a little help from me in the form of a few gallons of diesel fuel, we hadn't made even a small dent in the pile.  And this was the smaller of the two piles!!!

Here's where the real labor intensive work began on Jan 03, 2006

Once we realized burning wasn't an option, we decided to salvage what we could for firewood.  The first picture shows where we began the process of skidding the salvageable trees from the pile, cutting them into rounds, splitting them by hand with a maul, and stacking them (the second picture).

With the smaller of the two piles gone, mostly salvaged for firewood and the remainder burned, it was time to move onto the second really large pile.  Since the piles were created by a bulldozer and an excavator, we really had no idea what was actually in them until we started trying to get rid of them.  Here's a picture of me finding one of several large cherry trees that were hidden for three years in one of the original house construction debris piles.  I salvaged quite a few of these cherry logs, as well as a few smaller cherry trees that had to give up their lives to make room for the shop.  Hopefully some of this wood can be used for future projects.  If not, at least it will make wonderful fuel for the smoker!  The second picture is an attempt to show the depth and breadth of this second pile.  Even looking at my large Husky chain saw in the foreground, you can't really tell quite how large the pile really is!

I'll take the camera out tomorrow morning as I continue my assault on the pile...

Feb 01:  The picture on the left is what's left of the pile.  It's mostly stumps and some old trash wood that was here when we bought the property.  The picture on the right shows just how MUCH wood we were able to salvage from the piles.  Our plan is to split it all for firewood.  I suspect we'll wind up selling a bunch, since that's A LOT of wood!!!

I'll be back out there later tonight tending to the fire, and then again tomorrow continuing my assault.  It shouldn't be long before we're done and can start on the shop!

Feb 06:  We're almost done clearing the two huge piles that the dozer left us.  This should be one of, if not THE last large fire we'll need to burn.  There will probably be lots of small fires for the foreseeable future as we get all the small debris, root, limbs and assorted other stuff cleared out of the dirt. 

Once we get this last large fire done, we'll be out there getting stakes to mark both the new shop and Denise's garden.  We never thought we'd be seeing this day!!!

Feb 07: Spent a day cutting some of the salvaged trees into rounds.

April 1: A long over due update shows that we've been busy.

Here's a picture of the above rounds after we took four days to split them all.  Actually, there are still quite a few rounds left, but we only had the splitter for four days and this is all we could accomplish from sun-up 'til sun-down.  (And I've had enough of using the maul to split by hand!!)

We have most of this pile already stacked, I just haven't had a chance to get pictures taken.  I'll get some and post them...soon.

Stuff happens..

Click here to open a new browser window to see our new deck built to house our new spa. (Simply close the new window to return here when you're done.)

More stuff happens...then...

May 26:  Today was an historic day for Fivebraids, Inc.  The ground for the shop was officially broken!!!

It's been too long coming, but it's FINALLY happening.  I've gotten to the point where I can actually pick up tools and start working on my new shop!!!!!

As I mentioned above, I'm going with a pier and beam system for the foundation/floor of the shop.  Working with an engineer, the exact placement and spacing of the 28 piers was determined.  The first order of business was to mark out the actual EXACT location of the new shop.  Then with that marked, I had to layout and mark the EXACT location of each of the 28 piers.  Oh, and once I determined the exact location for the shop, I had to have the land graded a little in front so the porch would be properly situated and elevated.

Before I go any further, here's a quick shot showing where the shop is going to be.  But more importantly, see all that firewood in the foreground?  We estimate about 30-35 cords are split, most of it stacked and covered.  There's still a little remaining to be stacked as you can see to the left behind the stacks.

Ok, back to the shop details and historic ground breaking...grading the future shop front yard and porch site:

With the help of my laser level, a lot of string, some spray paint and spikes with caution tape, I got all the pier locations clearly marked in preparation for digging.

May 27: With all the pier locations marked, it was time to get a backhoe and get the holes dug. Thanks to John Bryant again for the use of the backhoe.  And thanks to Mack Baker for his expertise in operating John's machine doing such a fine job digging the holes!!

To make digging to the proper depth easier, I made a set of four story poles for the four rows of piers.  Each story pole is cut to length showing the exact depth required for that row of piers.  All I had to do was watch Mack as he dug a hole.  When it started to look about right, I'd drop the story pole in the hole and check the depth.  I'd either give Mack a thumbs up or indicate a little more had to be removed.

Here's me and my story poles in action.

And here's the man himself, Mack, in action.

Two hours later, Mack had done a fantastic job turning 28 of these

...into 28 of these

Thanks again Mack!!

Next step is to clean up the holes a little, removing some loose dirt and squaring them up.  Then we layout string marking the exact location of the piers in each hole in preparation for pouring concrete pillows for the piers to sit on.  We hope to get onto that tomorrow. We're moving ahead FULL STEAM now!

May 30: Denise and I got the holes cleaned out and then took delivery on EIGHTY FOUR 80lb bags of concrete and the Quiktube forms.

We got started pouring the concrete pads that the tubes sit on, and that the rebar gets inserted into.  But we ran into a small snag.  Our little concrete mixer decided it didn't want to work any longer, so we called it quits for the night.

May 30: Much to our amazement, the mixer decided it wanted to work again today, so we made lots of progress:

There's 21 completed pads, with the tubes perfectly aligned atop them.  It was sure some back breaking work.  Here's what FIFTY EIGHT empty bags of concrete look like leaning against a pine tree:

All we have to do now is fabricate some longer rebar assemblies and extensions for the tubes, since the grade of the site is such that the back row of tubes needs to be raised about 30".  That's tomorrow's task...

June 2: Denise and I have busted our tails working for the last two days.  We got all the tubes, rebar and pads done.  It took us SEVENTY TWO 80lbs bags of concrete to get them all poured, but they're done!

We then had to backfill all the holes by hand with a shovel, not quite as easy as you might think since we're dealing with Georgia Clay which is hard as rocks! 

This morning at 8am, a concrete truck showed up with four yards of redi-mix and got all the tubes filled:

We now have 28 of these in the yard, all filed with 4000lb concrete, with two (or more) sections of rebar, and topped with a Simpson MAB23 anchor strap:

Denise didn't want this posted, but I have to give her credit.  Here's a picture of her leveling the tops after I inserted the anchor straps and rebar:

I have to be THE luckiest man in the world to have Denise at my side.  Not only has she been breaking her butt to help me, today is her BIRTHDAY and this is how I treat her?!?!

June 3: Denise and I spent another lovely Saturday together, sharing quality time.  Denise ran the tractor with the box blade, leveling the site between the columns, after I hit the high spots with a shovel. 

Here's before and after pictures of the Tractor Queen's work, and the queen herself, smiling at her job well done:

After Denise leveled the site, I covered the area with long term fire ant killer:

Our next step is to lay out plastic sheeting and cover it with gravel.  As fertile as the ground is out there, if we didn't do this step, we'd have weeds growing up through the floor of the shop!  We got the process started, putting down most of the plastic, and then hauling a few thousand pounds of gravel:

 We should get that finished tomorrow...

June 6: A lot has been accomplished in three days.  We got the initial load of 7 ton of gravel spread, but needed an additional 4 ton to get it (almost) finished.  I've had it with shoveling gravel, so I'll get that additional ton or so at a later date,

The engineered floor system was delivered yesterday, as was the insulation for the floor, joist hangers, insulation hangers, and a bucket of joist nails:

The next task was to level the tops of the columns.  We were rushed so badly when the concrete truck was here that Denise was forced to attempt to screed partially set concrete with a scrap of 2x4 she found on the site.  As a result, I spent four hours this morning with an angle grinder flattening out the tops of all 28 piers.  Then I cut and installed 12" long pressure treated 2x10 caps on all the piers.  Then I bent and nailed the Simpson brackets to the 2x10's:

With the piers ready, I started work today on the actual floor system.  I assembled three of the 32' LVLs into a beam and got it into place on one of the center rows of piers.  It was a challenge since each beam weighs about 200lbs, and they're covered with a nice slippery wax-like substance.  Positioning them wasn't easy either , although using a friends tractor with a set of forks sure made it a lot easier on my back:

Initial indications are that we did a pretty good job with the piers:

It's going to take me a while to get all the beams assembled and positioned.  There isn't a whole lot of room to maneuver:

I'll try to post an update in the next few days...maybe after I get the remainder of the beams set in place.

June 12: Making good progress...all the 'beams' (LVLs) are in, level and square:

The first tropical storm of the season is heading our way, and we're not sure if, when or how hard we'll feel its effects.  We're not taking any chances on our investment though, so we're keeping everything covered until it blows over:

I'd rather be out there working, since the floor I-Joists are next.  I guess I needed a break...

June 19: Still making good progress.  The floor frame is complete.  That is, the LVL beams and I-Joists are all installed.

 The next phase is to install the 7/8" Advantech sub-floor.  That should take a few days, at least.  I'll try to post an update at that point.

June 29: Been pretty busy...the 7/8" Advantech is all down in spite of a few rain delays, and the fact that each of the eighty sheets weighed about 100 pounds each!!!

Now all I need to do is turn this pile of lumber into the walls:

July 16: Still been pretty busy...I've managed to turn most of that pile of lumber into two walls so far:

I built the walls as one piece units, which results in much more solid walls.  I also put on the sheathing and Tyvek house wrap before I raised them.  The challenge was then to get them raised...without inviting over two or three of the local college football teams. 

My solution was much easier, much more controlled, safer, and didn't cost me a fortune in food and beer like the football teams would have.  I bought a pair of industrial strength wall jacks:

These jacks attach to the top plate of the wall being raised, and get nailed into the deck (and into an I-Joist below).  Then it's just a matter of pumping the cum-along until the wall reaches vertical.  There's a stop built into the jacks that prevents the wall from going beyond vertical, which is one the biggest issues when raising a wall this big.  These jacks are worth their weight in gold.  Well, maybe silver...

So, two down and two to go.  I'm working on those two and should have them up in a few days.  The roof trusses are being manufactured now and should be on site in about 10 days or so.  Progress is being made...

August 18: I've been more than just busy, and haven't had a chance to post here.  So, here's what I've gotten accomplished in the month since I last posted:

All four walls are done and stood up.

Oh wait, that's not all...

I've also built the front porch.  Oh wait, that's not all...

I also got all the roof trusses set.  That was quite an interesting adventure!

Oh yeah, and I've also added the floor to the attic room.

I'm working on the roofing details, adding the lookouts and sub fascia, which should take me a few more days.  I also have to finish the details on the front porch before I can put on the roof.  I'll try to update at the next major phase...

August 30: I've been working as hard as I can, and have lots to show for it.  I finished all the roofing details and got the porch built.  I also got most of the windows and the front door installed. While working on the roofing details, I determined that doing the roof myself just didn't make sense.  There was too much to do, and I don't care for working up that high.  So I contracted out the roof:

It only took the roofers two days to get the job done.  It would have taken me a few weeks to get the same results, and it probably wouldn't have come out so nice.  Now it's on to finishing the sheathing on the gable ends so I can get the structure dried in.  Once that's completed, I get to work on adding power to the building so I can work after dark.

November 12: I can't believe it's been so long since I updated this site.  Sorry.

But just because I haven't updated the site, that doesn't mean work hasn't been continuing at the frantic pace it has been all along.

Since my last update, all the exterior walls were finished, Tyvek was installed all around, soffit and fascia has gone up, and Cypress siding is almost done.  Here are a few shots showing where I was about a week ago:

Oh yeah, you can also see in those pictures that I have electricity run in the shop.  That was a major undertaking, but I got it almost all done.  A few more large cable runs for the HVAC and tools, and it will be finished.

I have the west gable wall almost completely sided...minus one board...that I hope to get up in the next day or two.  I have about half of the east gable wall sided, also to be completed in the next week or so...weather permitting:

That picture of the east gable wall shows my buddy Joe standing next to me after a good hard days work.  He lives in South Carolina, but has driven the 2.5 hours each way on more than one occasion to lend me a welcome hand.  Thanks Joe! 

I hope to be moving to the interior details, ceiling, walls and floor, in the next week or two.  It all depends on how quickly I can get the remainder of the siding installed.

I'll try to be a little more diligent about getting this site updated.

January 18:  Here I am, once again apologizing for not keeping this site updated.

I've certainly been busy over the last two months (the last time I updated this site). 

• The siding on the east gable wall is done, except for the actual haymow door
• The ceiling is completely installed
• The attic has been insulated with 12"+ of blown in insulation
• All exterior walls have been insulated with R-19 (6") batts
• The walls are completely installed
• The walls and ceiling have all been painted (two coats of primer, once coat of paint)
• Lighting has been installed throughout the shop
• The hardwood floor is about 75% complete

Here are a few shots to show the progress:

There are still loads of things to be done.  I have to finish the floor, build and install a dust collection system, wire the major tools, etc., etc..

Hopefully my next update will be less than a month from now.  But...no promises... :)

July 13:  Wow, I've REALLY been bad about keeping this thing updated, huh? :-(

I've been unbelievably busy since the last update here.  This is a (partial) list of what I've done since the last update:

• The flooring has been installed, sanded and finished
• All the major tools are in place, and wired to the three phase system
• 20 and 22 gauge spiral pipe has been installed throughout the underneath of the shop to supply the dust collection system
• All the major tools are connected to the dust collection system that I custom designed and built
• An industrial compressor has been put in place and plumbed throughout the shop
• The siding on the rear of the shop has been finished (I needed to do that so I could run the pipe for the compressed air!)
• I've built a few workbenches and a few cabinets for the shop
• I've built floor-to-ceiling shelving in the finishing room
• All the doors in the shop have been finished and installed

I've left out loads of other things I've had to do to get where I am today...but the list above covers most of the main points.

Here are shots taken today from the four corners of the main shop space:

I'll hopefully take a full photographic tour of the shop someday soon.  And I'll attempt to clean it up a bit, unlike the mess in the above pictures.  Aside from a few odds and ends, and moving and re-designing certain aspects of the workflow in the shop, that's it...the SHOP IS FINISHED!

I'm in the design phase of my first commissioned piece and am taking orders for future work.  I'll be updating the Custom Design section of this site, as well as the Gallery, as pieces are designed and created.

Thanks for following along...